From Blue to New: Ombre Shorts

This DIY is one of my favorites. It allows you to take some old and out-of-style shorts and transform them into a new pair that are totally stylish! These ombre shorts are fun to do and a project that is super useful!

-For this DIY you will need: Bleach, water, a bucket, gloves, dye of your choice (whether is be RIT, liquid, powder; whatever you prefer), and an optional item is some studs.

   1. Get a pair of shorts or jeans you turned into shorts. If your shorts have a tag on the back with the brand, that probably needs to be removed. It doesn't work well with the bleach and may not dye the color you want. If you have white shorts, you can skip steps 2-5.
   2. Fill your bucket with a mixture of two parts water to one part bleach (ex. Two cups of water to one cup of bleach.) I recommend warm water from the sink.
   3. With your gloves on, submerge your shorts into the solution. Make sure every part of the shorts are soaked. Squish the shorts around a bit then leave them in the mixture for an hour or so.
   4. Take the shorts out and wring the bleach and water out. Lay the shorts onto a table or cement to dry. Once the shorts are almost dry and have change colors significantly, repeat step 3. Continue repeating steps 3 and 4 until your shorts are white or a very light blue.

   5. Rinse the shorts with cool water and them wash and dry them normally in the washing machine and dryer. Don't go straight to the dryer without washing the shorts; that could ruin your dryer.
   6. Now here's the fun part! Fill a bucket with enough hot water to fully submerge your shorts. Don't have too much water or the dye won't be as bright and bold. However, if you want a pastel color, you can use more water and dilute the dye down. Put in a little bit of your dye, just enough to give your shorts a light tint of the color you are dying them, then stir it up.
   7. With your gloves on, dip all of your shorts into the dye. Get your shorts completely soaked then wring them out and lay them off to the side.
   8. Now add a little more dye, enough to see a difference from your first color but not too much that you don't get the ombre effect. Stir that in then take your shorts by the end, fold the legs together, and dip almost all of the shorts in but leave about an inch or two out of the dye. Make sure you are dying a nice even line and one leg isn't getting more dye than the other. When you wring the shorts out, make sure the waist line is at the bottom so you don't get the bottom a dark color. Also keep in mind that after you wash and rinse your shorts, they will be a lighter color so you will want the shorts to be darker than how you really want them.
   9. Continue to add more and more dye to the water gradually and then gradually dip less and less of your shorts in. For a much more precise ombre, add the dye in very gradually and in small incriminates and make the space in between different shades of your colors smaller. Don't add too much dye at a time or the shorts's color will look blocky.
   10. Once you have dipped all the way up to the waist, lay the shorts out to dry. Let them dry then rinse with cold water. Make sure you still have the waist at the bottom because the dye can still bleed into the light areas. When the water runs clean and clear, rinse the shorts with warm water.
   11. Wash and dry the shorts normally. They will be lighter than before so don't freak out.
   12. An optional step is to stud your shorts to your pleasing. To stud, just poke your studs through the denim and bend the ends down so they don't poke you and they stay on your shorts. I bend mine down with tweezers.
And now you are done! I love my shorts and I always get compliments every time I wear them. If you have questions feel free to ask! See you next time!

*Inspiration* Dani Noe's SIY: Ombre Dip Dye Studded Shorts video.
*Disclaimer* Everything I used I bought and nobody is sponsoring me.